Vettel and Webber's catastrophic collision
Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber blamed each other for the crash that ended both their hopes of winning the Turkish Grand Prix.
Webber was leading from Vettel on lap 40 when the German, while attempting an overtaking manoeuvre, collided with his team-mate and crashed out of the race.
Vettel said: "I was quicker. I dived down the inside. I had the corner."
Webber, who needed a new nose cone, said: "We'll probably have a difference of opinion until we go to our graves."
The collision, which happened on the straight before Turn 12, put Vettel out on the spot.
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The large mistake was that not enough room was given
Christian Horner
Red Bull team principal |
It damaged Webber's front wing, which he was forced to make a pit stop to change, although he was able to finish the race in third place behind the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who had been hounding the Red Bulls all race.
Webber, who picked up 15 points to retain the championship lead by five points from Button, said: "Neither of us wanted to make contact and it's not ideal when we're both at the front, but it happened.
"Seb had top-speed advantage and went down the inside and I was thinking about the braking point.
Vettel unhappy after race-ending collision
"We were still a way from the corner. He came to the right pretty fast and it looked like he turned pretty quickly right.
"We were wheel to wheel at that point and there was no real give. It was not a major contact but at that speed it was a massive problem for us.
"Both of us have views on it and I hope that if we did it again I would not do a massive amount different from my side
"It was definitely a shame for the team and not a good day, but the McLarens had a solid day.
"There was still a long way to go, so it wasn't a guaranteed victory, but it was an interesting few metres on the track."
Webber explains Vettel incident
Vettel emerged from his car pointing his finger to his head in a manner suggesting that he thought Webber had pulled off a crazy move.
Clearly agitated on his return to the pits, he said: "I'm not very happy now obviously after something like this happening.
"We were all pretty much same conditions, same pace, and I felt I was able to go quicker. I was able to come closer the last two or three laps.
"I was just trying to get the braking point and suddenly I lost the car. You can see we touched.
"I'm not the kind of guy who pushes the fault to one guy. We are a team and we have to respect that."
Team boss Christian Horner was less than impressed with the incident and appeared to pin most of the blame on Webber.
 Vettel was less than pleased with his Red Bull team-mate after the crash
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"From a team perspective I'm really disappointed," Horner said.
"We'd done everything right. We'd out-thought McLaren and to see both cars crash out is very disappointing.
"They should never have been where they were and they have cost the team a great deal of points.
"Mark had changed down to a fuel-saving mode which lost us a little bit of performance in the straight and that also explains how Sebastian got a clear run on him.
"Seb managed to save an extra kilo of fuel, both cars started with the same fuel, so he had one more lap of the optimum engine mode, if you like.
"We could not tell him to back off because he was under pressure from Hamilton behind.
"The large mistake was that not enough room was given.
"We always ask drivers to give each other room, but we handed 43 points on a plate to McLaren. We had two guys racing hard, but you ask that they give each other space.
Horner implies Webber was to blame for crash
"Mark has put Seb on the dirty side, he gave him just enough room and Seb cut across aggressively. He was a long way down the side but neither yielded and the net result is everybody loses.
"Our priority is that we want to win the race, even if the cars had changed position we were still first and second.
"We saw Jenson and Lewis racing each other but they gave each other space, which is all anybody asks."
Hamilton, who took his first win of the year, sided with Webber and said: "I am very surprised with the move Vettel did.
"You have to be sensible. It was a dangerous move because I tried to go on the outside of him. He turned towards me, there was no reason to turn right.
"He did the same thing with Mark and unfortunately he took himself out. Mark has driven well in the last few races and I am glad he was able to do finish."
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ANDREW BENSON BLOG
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McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh also felt that Vettel was to blame for the crash that handed his drivers a one-two finish.
"I was a little surprised by the extent to which the Red Bull team were cuddling Sebastian Vettel on the pit wall," he said.
"You have got to get your own ego behind the team and if you have a potential one-two finish in the race, don't do anything to jeopardise that."
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